


Scaly Heart

by meiqis



Series: Dragon Garden [1]
Category: NINE PERCENT (Band), 乐华七子NEXT | NEX7, 偶像练习生 | Idol Producer (TV), 우주소녀 | Cosmic Girls | WJSN
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, real ships more like horrible flirting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-05
Updated: 2018-09-05
Packaged: 2019-07-07 02:50:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15899397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meiqis/pseuds/meiqis
Summary: Having nine kids at home to keep track of pay attention to is never much of an easy task, especially not for Zhengting having to take care of them all on his own and then needing to deal with some flirts on topOr - in which Zhengting is the Mother of Dragons and has to deal with it





	Scaly Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [zhuzhting](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zhuzhting/gifts).



> All of the ships are merely hinted at so don't even get your hopes up tbh  
> I gave Junhui an appearance because a) that ships deserves love and b) there's more reason to this

There were a lot of reasons he should be happy with the kind of animals he had at home, Zhengting thought at times, whenever he visited Jieqiong with her cats who left their hair all around the house, leaving their owner to permanently have to clean up behind them, wiping the floor and having to pay attention to not get her furniture clawed, or Yixing and his other wolves with the small pups screeching and running around the house, never allowing anyone to have a time of peace, gnawing on things and on people and surely deserving of the leashes they had to wear outside until they were able to shift into human form finally.  
Then there were reasons not to be happy with, how he called them so charmingly, his kids at all, included leaving the giant nest of blankets and pillows he called a bed and trying to leave the room only to find himself half-tripping over the half eaten carcasses of a cow that had been dragged around and all the way up from its place in the kitchen where it was supposed to be hanging on the ceiling, or slipping on puddles of water that were spread all over the staircase as he tried to get down to look through the rooms and take attendance records of the creatures that had partly woken up before him, screeching the names of the two in charge of the mess as he clung onto the railing for his dear life, there were also the days he looked at burn marks on the stone floor in front of the fireplace that was, and here he’d quote all his ancestors and the family that had recently renovated said area, “in no means able to be burnt or scorched, it’s the most fire resistant material known throughout the world” and had cost him an immense amount of money only to be turning black with the heat that, contrary to the previous words, easily succeeded such temperature mark.  
One more thing he found quite peculiar about his kind of pets was that by no means his clothes were able to survive the continuous attacks, surely, the older ones were able to behave and merely resorted to crushing him with their weight but the smaller ones with their little claws hooking into his shirt and tearing the fabric down while also leaving cruel marks on his back definitely didn’t know about control at all.  
Said thing was happening right this moment, had him wincing as he had to bear with the few moments during which his back was scratched open until a faint weight settled on his shoulder, little rough tail wrapping around his neck to secure the little body - as if those claws weren’t yet enough - while tiny dull teeth tugged on his earlobes or the skin around in swift turns to a small tongue lapping at the mistreated flesh.  
“Sure, sure, you’re hungry,” he muttered tiredly as he made his way through the countless amount of hallways towards the kitchen, he was sure that whatever evil genius had designed this mansion had built it just so about anyone who didn’t live there or had superior senses to find their way around would get hopelessly lost, although mansion would only be an appropriate term as based on its amount of rooms, based on the mere size of it, broad hallways, loads of open spaces, rooms with a high ceiling, doors that were more like gates, seemed to rather scream about all of it being a huge castle rather than anything else.  
Not like he could blame anyone for that, considering that the oldest of his kids was by now filling nearly the whole width of the hallways as she made her way around and he was quite aware that Xuanyi was of a slender build, with her wings dragged behind her rather than held up high and proud as if she had no energy to hold them up ever, whereas the smallest of them was still easily able to just sit on his shoulder, hardly weighing more than a chicken when carried around just like that.  
Everyone had an ability to jinx themselves and apparently he had just done that, sighing lightly as he moved into another room when seeing the tall honey colored dragon approach him through the hallways, wings still dragged around behind her and making an eerie sound that echoed from the high walls, joy evident from her eyes that sparkled when catching sight of the mother of the pack, something he wanted to be able to mirror but right now he really couldn’t, not when blunt teeth tugged on his ear up to the point it was painful.  
“Xuanyi!” The human simply called out in somewhat of a whine as he pointed a finger at her while at the same time he tried to pry off the baby creature that was still painfully tugging on his hearing organ, “If you grow any taller, I’ll have you sleep in the barn! How do you and Wenjun even manage?”  
As if that was all it took, the dragon sneered before limbs shrank down, her posture changed, proportions morphed and scales disappeared, leaving a naked woman behind who was quick to take the youngest of the hatchlings into her hands, after carefully undoing claws from his clothes, to place him on her bare shoulder instead, the little reptile version of nails digging into her skin without yet being able to break it. “You know he prefers to walk around like this since he was able to change,” she cooed, the tone of voice more faulted to letting the baby nibble on her finger rather than that she was talking to her mother, of some sorts.  
Actually, Zhengting had never understood why the title had been Mother of Dragons when, clearly, he wasn’t a female but after his mother had passed away in childbed, trying to give birth to his younger sister, a stillborn, and his father had long since passed away for an unscathed human couldn’t keep up with the enhanced lifetime of a Mother, he had resigned his protests and taken on the title in honor of his mother.  
Admittedly though, back when he had accepted the title, it had been a joke, there hadn’t been any dragons around for centuries, their family had been respected because of the chance to birth new dragons that could easily tear down entire nations but the truth had been so simple it was nearly embarrassing - they had held onto nine eggs and yet no one had known how to hatch them when there was none of the creatures alive anymore, the last ones had been killed during a war while even his mother had only been a child, it must have been centuries ago.  
“I wish they all would learn how to do that soon, it’s way more comfortable to be talking to you than-” Vaguely he moved his hands around his head, signaling their unusual method of communication, the way they could hear their voices echo in his mind rather than perceive it with his ears, feeling their emotions by heart instead of entirely being able to guess from their stance, though, a lot of their reactions could be taken from their body language, after all, “...this.”  
Still talking and ending with a sigh, he had already managed to peel out of his shirt, handing it to the woman instead who easily put it on, helping the small dragon baby to readjust his position while remaining oblivious to the biting and licking her ear. “You can’t just hope we all do this, Zheng. We’re still dragons, we feel weird without scales on our skin and claws on our hands… Well, maybe except Wenjun, I think he enjoys being able to hold your hand since he’s too big now to cuddle up to you.”  
Where Xuanyi was laughing at the mention of such, Zhengting could only frown lightly, remembering how just a few days ago, around the time they usually headed to bed with him wanting to enter the bedroom, he had been nudged from behind and where he was sure that Wenjun had meant to be as gentle as possible, it had still had him stumbling and nearly crashing into the water dragons face front, further leading to his oldest son feeling sorry for days and keeping his human shape throughout most of the day, resorting to his original frame that exceeded even Xuanyis frame only at night.  
In exaggerated despair he rubbed his hands over his face while simultaneously pushing the kitchen door open with his shoulder, dreading the day all his kids would have reached their full size and while the first growth spurts came in early years, even the two eldest surely wouldn’t have reached their final height until another or two decades from now, at least if what Xinchun had reported on his mission of reading the whole of the library had been right. “We’ll need to move into the dungeons soon if this goes on. Or the entrance hall or ballroom because by bedroom is getting too tiny for all of you for sure.”  
“This is rude of you to say, mom,” another voice called from further inside the kitchen, it had him jumping on his feet before he directed his gaze at the other one of his kids who had finally learned how to shift, currently gnawing on a cow leg that seemed funnily oversized in comparison to his human form whereas it would look less comical and rather tiny when in front of a dragon snout.  
“Prove me wrong first!” He huffed in return, pushing his lip into a pout as he made his way over to the cooling chamber to look for a small chicken to tear apart and feed the baby, shivering lightly with the cold, especially after he had handed his shirt to his eldest just minutes ago to cover her bare frame, more for safety than his own comfort, merely because he wasn’t able to look at either of the two with anything but motherly love, especially not when he knew what they were supposed to look like originally, really, shifters weren’t much of his thing.   
“Admittedly, we are kind of big,” Xuanyi supported his claim while leaning over the counter, trying to steal Wenjun’s bone but the male just went to get her another leg, tearing it off the cow’s corpse that was hanging from the ceiling, half of it already gone since, undoubtedly, he had tripped over it less than an hour ago, not sure whether he was supposed to feel disgusted about hitting carcasses or relieved because for once it hadn’t been Cheng Xiao with her weird ability to entirely disappear from sight.  
“Justin’s tiny!” Wenjun exclaimed in exchange, pointing at the little blue ball of scales and claws jumping around the kitchen counter to catch the pieces Zhengting was throwing, one by one, busying the tiny thing while he was still taking apart the dead bird, the sound of bones cracking and getting crushed by a small but strong straw echoing throughout the room.  
“You were also once tiny like him,” the human protested and gave the blond an accusing glimpse before he returned to feeding the baby of their peculiar family, approving nod coming from the female’s side who was soon after cooing about how tiny her younger brother had been, sitting on her head as she trudged around the house because he had been too weak to walk by himself at first and, surely, the two oldest ones might as well be the most lethargic from the pack, way unlike the younger ones, two of which came crashing through the door at this moment, a flurry of black and pink and orange and red, until eventually an invisible force held down the fiery creature in a rather funny posture before the air shifted lightly, giving sight to the mostly black dragon, paw placed on the head of the younger who was only two thirds of his sister’s size because he was a male and had a black hole installed at the pit of his stomach.  
Rolling his eyes, Zhengting nodded his head at the cow that was still hanging up, leading to the two creatures flying up within an instant to attach themselves to the chain with their hinds, wings fluttering at times to keep themselves up while their forelegs worked on taking the cow apart and crunching on the bones and while Chengcheng was still eating the most of it, the Mother couldn’t help but feel fond of how he fed the best pieces to his older sister still.  
At least until a tiny jaw chomped down on his hand, startling him enough to release a shriek in surprise and quickly he returned to the task of feeding the baby tiny pieces of chicken while considering what he was supposed to eat himself, maybe just ask Chengcheng to roast him a steak and some potatoes for dinner.

One of the reasons he was not all that happy with having a pack of dragons to live with was the supply of food, one cow a day was hardly enough to suffice either of his two eldest who’d readily eat more than that while his youngest ones would be feeding on chicken or fish for a while longer, meaning nearly every day he had to go around and ask the leaseholders specialized in agriculture whether they had any stock for him while bearing with their stupefied gazes, the ones that were, admittedly, justified.  
Just some years ago he had hardly asked them about the meat, maybe had taken one cow a year from each of his tenants and all of a sudden some years ago, he had told them to increase their stock for good reasons, that the demand would increase and, surely, it had, up to the point he had sponsored them new animals so they could raise more of the pigs and cows and chickens on their farms, despite it probably making little to no sense to them, after all, not many were just yet aware that he had fire breathing monsters living at his castle that for the handful of decades of his life had only been occupied by him, laying on the outskirts of the city, just so he could easily reach both directions, into the urban area that was bustling with life and the farmers that were under his command, sometimes bringing the meat to his house when they delivered to the markets and sometimes he had to pick it up himself, allowing him to take the youngest of his kids out, securely placed in the saddle bags behind him and peeping out their reptile heads.  
It wasn’t too much of a ride this time around, past the walls of his castle that surrounded the garden clearly made to hold big animals like actual dragons, past fields and over the river until he had reached his destination, at least after a stop at the water to have the teal and lavender creatures rushing around the wet area in joy, whipping up droplets with their tails and tearing the surface with the flapping of their wings until he had to call them back with a whistle, seeing how a few other riders approached from afar, and it was just seconds before the two babies had settled on the cart, lying on their backs with their wings spread out to have the sun warm their bellies and dry their leathery skin where their own heat wasn’t sufficient.  
“Keep quiet,” he signed them, pressing a finger to his lips to signal them what to do before he pulled a blanket over them, merely to their safety, he knew that dragons were feared once they were grown but looking small and innocent, they could be stolen from his hands all too easily if their existence were known, they could be so easily slaughtered by those who sought malice and were afraid of the future threat, and surely he wasn’t willing to risk their safety, yet he wasn’t up to just keep them locked within the castle for all of their short childhood.  
“Sir Lin,” he called out with some mockery once he realized who it was to have approached him, not staying on the ground to give the halfling of a knight enough of a reason to come down from the royally groomed horse and possibly try to flirt again or, worse, pull the blanket off the cart, and instead he moved to mount his horse again, letting it slowly walk while the knight pulled up next to him, the other four of his troupe moving behind them.  
“You make it seem as if you were escorting me,” he joked lightly as he looked behind at the lower ranked soldiers, all properly dressed in leather armor that was light in the summer heat but still more protective than should have been in times of peace, “But surely I wasn’t the reason you left behind the comfort of the palace. What takes you to my lands?”  
“As much as I would have appreciated to be sent out here for your beauty alone, my dear flame, it’s for other reasons,” the handsome man replied, showing that charming smile that surely would have anyone else down on their knees or at least standing on wobbly legs but it had the human feeling oddly somber, especially when hearing the echo of a growl in his mind, so he rather encouraged the knight to go on talking by raising his eyebrows lightly. “Some travelers reported about some bandits lurking around your lands so we were sent to check up on this. Aren’t you supposed to know about it? Considering it’s your lands?”  
Thoughtfully he hummed, tapping his lower lip to act as if he were to actually consider it before he just showed an innocent expression, “As long as none of my tenants are at risk or reporting to me, I see no reason to request for your help. I’m supposed to take care of those living on my grounds, not the ones passing through.”  
“Thoughtful as always, my flame,” the older called out in mockery before those dark eyes, attentive as ever, moved to look at the cart instead, apparently considering it for a while. “There are rumors, Mother of Dragons, that you might have born a child. You’re requesting for more meat than you ever did before and you know how much the King dislikes having to miss out on his favorite treat because too much has been bought by you already.”  
“Me? Bearing a child?” He laughed loudly at the image of it, as if he weren’t awfully aware that it wasn’t about that, that it wasn’t regarding a human child but referring exactly to the two tiny creatures settled on the wooden boards pulled by his horse. “I think you are mistaken, Sir Lin. Surely I might have such a title but how should I be supposed to give birth without a womb?”  
The smile didn’t disappear from handsome features as he had hoped, rather those charming dimples seemed to grow more apparent as that expression turned more smug, as if there were hundred things about him he didn’t know himself but the knight very well did so, as if all his secrets had been exposed, his cards laid out to the royal guard and easily being read. “I think we’re both aware that your title, Mother of Dragons, is quite fitting, especially lately. Don’t think you can keep a secret from me, my sweet flame, because I pay a lot more attention to you than you think.”  
“Are you outing yourself as my stalker, Sir?” Zhengting asked with an affectionate smile, one that might not have been fake this time around, but instead of a reply, he only received another grin and then the knight was already taking off with his team, leaving some small clouds of dust born from the dry earth of the street behind, and from there it took only seconds until a blue dragon was settled on his shoulder, body protectively curled around his neck, while another was wrapped around his lap, oddly enough not seeming to have any problem with sitting in such difficult to keep position.  
“I don’t like him,” Justin’s voice echoed in his mind where in reality but a cat-like hiss was released from the small creature’s neck, wings flapping lightly in anger but soon calming down when the human tilted his head, rubbing against the dragon’s frame lightly to calm his youngest down, the last he could possibly raise, born from the last egg he had possessed.  
“You like no one,” a softer voice answered to them, sounding somewhat groggy as probably faulted to the sun that was lulling the lavender baby on his lap in, and where Quanzhe was right, the youngest found no more words to reply, especially not when their mother of sorts was more focused on lifting the bigger body up and putting him back into the saddlebag, with the lengthy tail moving out to wrap around his thigh still.  
“You really do like no one,” Zhengting added after some while, giving the blue one a glimpse from the side but the youngest only let out a small grumble while making himself more comfortable, small head resting on his collarbones and he had to face the sad truth of even his smallest kid already growing more in size, where once one shoulder had been more than enough, in just a few weeks time the whole width of his back wouldn’t be enough to carry the kid anymore and if his assumptions and previous experiences were right, this was hardly a reason for any of them to stop being clingy, not when some of them seemed to be quite eager to crush him on a daily base.

It was one thing having two tiny dragons curled up on his shoulder or lap, though, tiny didn’t even fit that well for Quanzhe who lately had reached the size of a herding dog recently, slowly catching up with Chengcheng and Cheng Xiao whereas Justin was still lagging behind a bit, much to his understanding, the youngest was but a few months old yet.  
An entirely different thing was having two dragons of different build wrap around his entire body, Meiqi and Zeren were really outstanding compared to their siblings, having none of the lizard like build their older and younger siblings shared with their traditional bodies, long and slender and moving through the air like silk ribbons, easily clawing their ways up and around the walls and while as babies, thanks to their frame, they had easily been able to wrap themselves around his shoulders and later from his shoulder down to his waist, now they could easily tower over him when standing on their hinds, making it difficult for him to so much as walk as they were clinging to him, forelegs curled around his upper body to have their heads hanging down his chest, exchanging glances he couldn’t interpret as he had to drag their heavy bodies around the hallways, trying to shake them off before he so much as reached the gates of their home.  
“I keep telling you but I won’t be taking you along,” he groaned, the strain of the weight surely not being good for his back at all or ever, the sound of bones cracking he usually heard in the kitchen was now coming to his mind as he reached to rub at his spine strained from the exercise.  
Mother of Dragons, living longer, enhanced strength and senses, all good and great, neither of these abilities was now useful when it was about having to basically carry two of his kids around just because they weren’t willing to let go at all, too eager to accompany him into the city, to see the bustling streets they had never before gotten a glimpse off because, after all, he didn’t go around to flaunt his dragons, not unless they had the ability to shift and fit in with the mass of people of various races around.  
“Mom,” the female’s voice resounded in his mind in her best pleading puppy tone and maybe he would have given in if he hadn’t already heard that kind of voice for years already, had heard it from Xuanyi begging him for snacks, curiously enough, never really from Wenjun or Xinchun, but definitely from the two younger females and later then from all his younger kids, seriously, he was growing immune to the sound of it.  
“And I told you not to call me that, you’ll make it a habit and then people on the streets will catch on and we’re busted and-”  
“So you’re taking us along?” A hopeful Zeren interrupted him and before he even had a chance to protest, he felt the weight being taken off him, felt the shift in the air as he turned around to be faced by two teenagers, their shifts weren’t perfect just yet, scales were still evident on parts of their bodies, on the younger one’s more than the girl’s, with his dragon skin being evident around the shoulders and back, tracing his spine and partly covering his thighs, building a contrast to his surprisingly tan skin, darker than his other kids before.  
Meiqi, admittedly, had nearly a perfect shift already, her nails a bit too long and a bit too sharp, her skin glowing a bit too much and hair looking like the liquid and pale cold that usually adorned her frame, and at least that much could be blamed on cosmetics, much to his awful realization that now he wasn’t even able to back down anymore, not when he always told them he’d take them out when they were able to finally turn human.  
“How long can you keep this up?” He asked, brushing his hand through his hair only to feel his wavy bangs fall into place again and the girl was quick to adjust them again with gentle fingers, smiling softly in that affectionate manner only family members were able to.  
“A few hours,” Zeren answered for his sister, seemingly thinking over it and back to how they had trained it, overtaking their older brother but he partly blamed that on Xinchun, the bookworm had never had as much of an interest to go out as the two water dragons had had and Cheng Xiao, presumably, was just too busy taking care of the younger ones to even attempt her changes just yet. “The longest we managed was a whole afternoon but in the evening we were exhausted and more of our dragon traits came through.”  
“Worst case,” Zhengting started and gave them a glare, already making his way over to the staircase and up to go look for some clothes for them to wear, old ones of his own for the boy, smaller in build than he had been at that age, and a smaller piece of Xuanyi’s or his mother for Meiqi, keeping in mind to cover more of the skin than might have been necessary for this season but was very well needed to cover up their inhuman marks.  
They struggled a bit, having to put on human clothes for the first time, and Zhengting could only help to the best of his abilities, carefully combing back some strands of the female with his fingers only to keep them in place with a ribbon then, wrapped around her head and with a cute little bow standing out amidst her golden hair, only so much as forcing them into their shoes before he shushed them out of the house.  
Walking into the city center mostly consisted of him giving them some money, telling them to stay close, to not talk to strangers, not to call him their mother, it was all this and all that and sometimes he had to repeat himself because the two got too easily distracted by all the new things they got to see, ones they hadn’t known before, yet he knew they wouldn’t disobey whenever they had properly listened to his rules and nodded in understanding, so eventually he gave them some more freedom, told them to never stray too far and to call out to him when they wanted to try something or look at something, himself able to enjoy the sight of their bouncing around and getting fascinated with the smallest of things, making him wonder whether this was finally the bliss of a mother and the warmth of parental love blooming in his chest.  
It was only after a while that he called out their names again, drawing their attention to call them closer, before he waved them into the restaurant he had already chosen to dine at for the day, a change of mood compared to being surrounded by raw meat in their kitchen day in and day out and just for behaving well, he wanted to reward the two too.  
Carefully he guided them towards the back of the restaurant and to the terrace that was hovering above a little pond, gave sight to one of the small gardens placed around the city because the emperor had decided that some tranquil places like these loitered around would make the folk more at peace, and now it was drawing attention from the two dragons as they went to the railing and peeked around.  
“Looks different from our garden,” Meiqi declared as she gazed down onto the water, steam starting to build around the surface as she played with the liquid in her mind only to be quickly be shushed by their human companion and lead towards a table to sit down at or safe they start drying out the whole pond or causing a downpour just because they were too fascinated with something, and after that had already happened a handful of times, he was really too tired to come up with excuses.  
After a short talk with the two shifters, it was easily settled that he’d order for them, to get their wishes just right, and just as he was about to wave over one of the attendants, he was instead greeted by a handsome tan man settling down next to him, “I can only recommend you today’s special, beautiful. It starts with you and ends with me.”  
“Junh-” He only just managed to start when from the corner of his eyes he could already see Zeren’s pupils taking their unusual slit shape resembling a snake’s and Meiqi’s nails getting longer, deforming, and it took a sharp glare for the two to at least gain back so much control that their shapes were more human again.  
“Oh? Are these your kids, Zheng?” Junhui asked next to him while inspecting the teenage-looking kids carefully, and yet his tone implied that it wasn’t the kind of kids you’d pick up from the neighborhood and call as such, a knowing and teasing glint in his eyes as he turned his head.  
The Mother frowned lightly, looking at the vampire that really seemed to go against all stereotypes of his kin, there was no burning to ashes from the sunlight, he wasn’t sickening pale as the others of his race, didn’t have a dead heart, no, that man was very well alive and vivid, had the elegance and smooth gestures akin to his family, and Zhengting knew better than to offend the prince of vampires, royal blood giving him all the traits he possessed that made him so different from those of lower standing.  
“Don’t look at our mo-” Zeren started to hiss but before he could finish the sentence, Meiqi had her hand covering his mouth, skin shining more beneath the daylight than it should and he truly hoped that it wouldn’t draw more attention than it should, except maybe it did, because deep black eyes seemed to take an interest in it for a moment before they returned to his face.  
“They don’t smell like fire and ashes like your last companion did, beautiful, and yet they want to call you their mother. You’re really a curious person,” was all that was said before the Prince of the Undead had already disappeared, just in time for the owner of the shop to show up at their table, warm smile plastered all over Zhangjing’s face who greeted them, didn’t seemed fazed by his friend showing up with two kids, except something told him that by the end of the night a certain knight would be informed about the happenings in every detail while having an evening drink.

Somehow, Zhengting thought to himself, it was oddly reassuring to watch Xinchun so carefully handle books, perched on a small scaffold, merely a foot or something high, to make it easier to read in the pages since he wasn’t all that small anymore, yet, with all the books that had been devoured by reptile eyes already, it was a wonder how not a single one of them had been scathed, all treated carefully, claws picking up pages and turning them with all the gentleness that could by uttered, no matter how old or how new these papers were, none of them was even so much as wrinkled.  
It was especially intriguing to observe all the reactions that came with reading, his lips wrapping around his still steaming teacup as he nipped on the brewed herbs, tried to figure out what kind of book the dragon was reading this time around, could only assume it must be quite a fascinating story because the heavy tail that was sometimes wriggling around in joy, that was slyly curling in with mystery and suspense, it was now laying down heavily with concentration, stiff and tense in the way it was loosely wrapped around the big auburn figure that was already the size of his older sister despite their two years gap, and even if the Mother had wanted to catch a glimpse of the story, by no means was he able to.  
“Xinchun,” he called out softly once he had lowered his cup, tried to get the creature’s attention softly, and although he had finally gotten his kid’s attention, he wasn’t able to keep it because right that moment the doors to the library were perched open, pushed by slender arms belonging to his oldest son, but whereas he had expected the shifter to enter, instead a black haired male entered the room.  
Ziyi was merely spared a glimpse from Xinchun, big head rested on an equally big paw as amber eyes were returning to ancient pages, deeming a conversation that had never started as finished, or at least delayed until later for when it was calmer again.  
“You’ve grown a bit, big one,” the visitor called out, caressing the dragon’s hind in the passing before he settled on another of the couches, opposite the one Zhengting had been settling on, taking a comfortable position while the owner of the house poured a second cup of tea to hand over. “You know, coffee is better than this…”  
“So is wine but you don’t see me drinking it,” the lighter haired replied with a smile while curling in further into his blanket, taking a sip from his cup again while watching the other, the one he had basically grown up with, as much as it could be considered as such case when he surely was twice the… whatever Ziyi was, yet they looked perfectly the same age, one of the few things he was aware of was that his visitor had an incredible talent in handling animals and creatures, at least with the exception of the dragons in his home, and was the only person who, for sure, knew that the dragons had returned, because even he had needed a doctor for his kids in case of an illness or alike, and therefore seen the fiery beasts living in the castle with him.  
“You cut your hair a bit,” he said finally, after some delay, looking at the black mass that was held back by a scarf of some sorts, and oddly had him thinking of better not letting catch Zeren sight of that or the next thing he’d need to do is buy more of them for that kid to wear, both of them, his two water kids, had taken quite a liking to their human shape lightly, or maybe it was just that he was taking them out to the city more often now that they had succeeded in changing shapes.  
It seemed to be a day of surprises, surely, because he could see Ziyi open his mouth, ready to give a reply, or maybe an explanation, reason as to why he had showed up on this day specifically, but the doors flying open and three figures scurrying in left hardly any time to say something, more so when a weight draped itself across his lap and his shoulders alike, bright red body weighing down onto his legs while a flurry of blue was curled around his upper body and the backrest of the couch, a figure of black and pink wrapped around her same-aged brother lying in front of the fireplace, looking adorably affectionate as they took a cross-shape of scales and leather and wings wrapped around.  
“Chengcheng, you’re too big,” Zhengting groaned, tried to push the brightly colored body off his lap but he might as well have attempted moving a heavy boulder, by no means could he move something that was at least four times his weight and half of Xinchun’s size already, really, they were all growing too fast and it was feeding the nostalgia in his heart, even Justin, curled up behind him, had gone from a little figure that could perfectly fit into the two palms of his hands to a the length of his arms spread and maybe a bit longer, wings slender and wider than any of the older dragons’ and already not put to proper use in flying around, and, effectively, annoying the medial sister who had made it her task to look after the two most active ones.  
“Get off!” He demanded, once again, but merely so succeeded in having his kid move around enough to only stay with a smoldering head placed on his thighs and warming his body while the rest of the body was sprawled over the couch as good as possible, making the wooden build croak with the burden of having to support such extreme weight. “Chengcheng! It’s already horrible enough my bed broke, I don’t-”  
“Your bed broke?” Ziyi interrupted, glee evident in such smooth voice, and his head whipped around towards his visitor immediately, the amusement more prominent with that light smirk and mischievous sparkle of a gaze, “What did you do? Fucked one of the ‘dads’ too hard?”  
It didn’t surprise him all that much that Justin suddenly flounced forward, his hand immediately wrapping around the slender tail to keep the blue body at bay, even though it required all his strength to even just hold back the youngest of his kids, and if the other human-like was startled in any way by the reaction, he didn’t bring it up, only kept looking at wings desperately flapping in the air and legs stretching to reach lean muscles, teeth snapping and it probably was just his close friend’s luck that Justin couldn’t yet produce a proper flame from his snout or skin would have been scalded for a while now.  
“No, I just have quite some heavy kids,” he answered, eyeing the orange one still on his lap but all he received was a little grumpy huff, Chengcheng, at least, had already settled with Ziyi who was so perfectly at home around, but to the youngest the black haired was hardly known yet, no one to get close to, no one seen more than maybe two times after the egg shell had cracked and a slimy bit of blue had emerged, was but another intruder and all kinds of intruders were to be disliked, and unlike with the knight some while ago, this one could, at least, be openly attacked.  
Once Justin had somewhat calmed down, retreated to instead wrap around his arm and only remained hissing in an overly protective manner, Zhengting was finally able to lead a proper conversation with his guest, ignoring the interruptions of his kids as good was possible, he just wanted to enjoy the time of serenity for as long as was possible, oblivious to the passing of time, even though he watched Xinchun getting closer to the end of the book, fondled Chengcheng beneath his chin, rubbed his head against Justin’s body, and kept track of Chengxiao dozing off and turning half her body into an invisible blur, at least until Xuanyi came in, dressed in one of his older shirts because, as she had said, it was a waste to just throw them away, not when she might as well use them to run around at home.  
“The kids need to eat soon. Shall I take over or do you want to?” She asked gently into the room, gave Ziyi a soft smile as greeting, and the mention of food was a safe and secured way to get the two younger dragons up and rushing out of the room, running out onto the hallways with only the scratches of their claws serving as reminder of their existence.  
“Ziyi-” He started softly as he sat up, placed his empty cup on the tray he had used to carry the tea set in, while keeping watch of the other who waved him off, followed his action in placing the mug down as well.  
“Don’t worry, Zhengheng,” the younger said softly, slender fingers driven through his honey hair and reassuring him, the movement of their standing up nearly synchronized, “Go and feed your kids. And for the next full moon, you owe me a dinner at Zhangjing’s. Make Xuanyi babysit the others.”  
There was a last caress to his cheek that left him startled, only for him to watch how his closest friend left, passing some soft touches to the two dragons to serve as farewell, a kiss to the shifted female’s cheek, and then he had already left, making his way out of the building to leave the family behind.  
It took some moments for Zhengting to gain his composure back again, signaling with a tilt of his head for the same-aged siblings to make their way over to the kitchen too while he trailed after them with Xuanyi by his side. “You have something in your mind, dear?”  
“Zheng… Maybe it’s time to find a partner for yourself finally. We all have the urge to find a mate, you can’t possibly be an exception,” the female pointed out gently, now that it was a safe distance to all her protective younger brothers, their ability to bear with strangers in their home gradually decreasing with their ages, much less to mention anyone trying to flirt with him on the streets, something his two oldest ones could easily deal with whereas the water dragons were more than just opposed to such acts.  
Xuanyi must have been aware too, because, as he gave her a gentle smile while pushing open the door to the kitchen, she didn’t try to protest anymore, only pulled her facial muscles to display a grimace while rolling her eyes, leaving it to him to come to a conclusion with such obvious matter but it wasn’t even like he could, not when Wenjun, gnawing on a cow bone again, was busy fending off his food from five or more hungry mouths.

**Author's Note:**

> you know the deal - [twitter](https://twitter.com/zhengjunist) and [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/dadting)


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